EASTON, Pa. – The Patriot League Council of Presidents has voted to add William and Mary as an associate league member competing in football beginning with the fall of 2026. 

William and Mary will join in-state rival Richmond, which is slated to commence Patriot League play in 2025, competing alongside fellow associate members Fordham and Georgetown. Full members Lafayette, Bucknell, Colgate, Holy Cross and Lehigh make up the balance of Patriot League football. The league will grow to nine teams in 2026 and will continue to play a single round-robin schedule.

William and Mary's addition comes just shy of of year of the Richmond announcement, which was the first football expansion since 2001.  

Lafayette and William & Mary have met seven times on the gridiron with the series kicking off with a Lafayette win in 2012 (17-14). The last meeting came in 2022. William & Mary joined the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) in 2007 and the the 2024 season featured 16 teams in a conference claimed by Richmond which went 8-0 in CAA play.